[NH] Introduction to air cooling

[bigben2k]

My buddy Martin at NordicHardware wrote a primer on air cooling, for noobs:
http://www.nordichardware.com/article/Cooling/2003/luftkylning/

I'm working with him on a possibly upcoming waterblock roundup.

[bigben2k]

Here's the follow up, on water cooling:
http://www.nordichardware.com/article/Cooling/2003/vattenkylning/

and my comments:

The spelling could use some work

Although it covers heat resistance and heat capacity, it should have included material density, as it's also a factor.

The heat calculation is interesting, but should have been demonstrated at 4 L/m, as that is more typical of a watercooling loop.

The statement about the tranny cooler being the least effective is not entirely accurate: Hayden makes these, and build turbulators inside the pipe, making them extremely efficient. In fact, for a similarly size (in volume) of a heatercore, this cooler will outperform it.

Car radiators aren't the best choice, because of their size. Instead, a car's heatercore (internal heating radiator) is much better suited. They're also the cheapest source for an internal cooling solution. Also, it's my understanding that it can be difficult to get one of these in copper or brass in Europe, because most are made out of aluminium, which should be avoided.

Conformal coating is a relatively easy way of protecting PC components. Distilled water isn't much safer than tap water.

Credit ought to be given to Dan (www.dansdata.com) for the pic of the Senfu aluminium block, if that's where it came from.

Corrosion will first cause a leak, before clogging up a loop.


Otherwise a good article.